Always on my Mind
by SugaRachy
Summary: Follow Lily as she struggles through her fifth year at Hogwarts. Coping with exams and big-headed boys ain't easy y'know!


It was the last day of August, and the heatwave that had continued since the beginning of the summer still wasn't showing any signs of ending. The weather was so hot that most people preferred to simply laze around in their back gardens with a cold drink, others could be found enjoying a cool swim at the local pool or having picnics in the park. It was the kind of weather that makes people relax, nobody can work and everyone avoids their 'sauna-like' cars if possible. Those who did travel could be seen with all their car windows rolled down, and gazing wistfully at the owners of convertibles, who were using the glorious weather as an excuse to show off, zipping around with the top down and the wind in their hair. One driver in particular thought she must be suffering from sun-stroke when she saw what appeared to be an owl flying overhead in broad daylight, but when she went to take a closer look it had vanished. However, the owl was not a hallucination, it was in fact heading south towards a large village several miles off the motorway.  
  
Ten minutes later the owl had almost reached its destination, it was soaring over pallid grey rooftops and trees, never stopping and never slowing, its powerful wings beating as it began to descend towards the  
  
back garden of number two Greyland Avenue. It swooped down and landed silently on the grass, right beside the body of a sleeping fourteen year old girl. She was lying stretched out on the lawn, her dark red  
  
hair held back from her pretty face by two little pink clips and a pair of dark sunglasses shielding her eyes from the sun. The owl hopped closer and began to nibble on the ends of the girls fingers. The girl sat up at once and removed her glasses, revealing her startlingly green, almond-shaped eyes. Seeing the owl on the grass beside her the girl held out her hand expectantly, and the owl dropped into it the envelope he had been carrying in his beak and promptly took off into the sky once more. The girl watched it go and grinned, 'took them long enough,' she muttered, before tearing open her letter. Casting the envelope aside, she unfolded a yellowish piece of parchment and began to read the emerald-green ink that was written there:  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)  
  
Dear Miss Lily Evans,  
  
We are pleased to welcome you back for your fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please note that Ordinary Wizarding Levels will take place in the June of next year. We are also delighted to inform you that you have been selected as a new Gryffindor prefect. At the start of term you should  
  
report to the Head Boy and Girl who will inform you of our responsibilities and duties. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment and your Gryffindor prefect badge. Term begins on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine and three quarters, at eleven o'clock. We look forward to seeing you.  
  
Yours sincerely,  
  
Minerva McGonagall  
  
Deputy Headmistress.  
  
The girl called Lily gasped excitedly and spun around to grab the envelope that she had thrown aside. Holding the edges firmly, she turned the pale envelope upside down and gave it a gentle shake. A shiny scarlet and gold badge toppled out and landed with a soft thud in the grass. Lily picked it up and studied it. A large letter 'P' was  
  
imprinted on top of the golden Gryffindor lion, and the sun was reflecting on the metal in such a way that the badge seemed to be glittering. The metal felt warm under her fingers as she gazed at it. Smiling to herself, Lily slid the badge carefully into her pocket and picked up the small piece of parchment that had also fallen from the  
  
envelope. It was the list of books and equipment she would need for her fifth year. Lily scanned the list quickly and saw that she already had most of the necessary items, there were only three things she needed to buy. Two books, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five, by Miranda Goshawk and Defend Yourself from the Dark Arts, by Hitomi Mandalin. This didn't surprise Lily, but when she saw what the third item she needed was, her eyebrows shot straight up: Please note that all fifth years will require a set of dress robes.  
  
DRESS ROBES?? Why did the fifth years need dress robes? The only year that had required them before now was seventh year, and they only needed them for their leaving-school ball...Did this mean the fifth years would be given a ball too? It was an exciting thought. Lily stood up at once, folding her letter and stuffing it into the pocket along with the prefect badge. Pausing only to brush a few blades of grass off her clothes, she skipped happily towards the white back door of her house, still deep in thought.  
  
What colour should her dress robes be? Would she have to take a date! Who could she go with?  
  
Lily was still considering this last thought with a wicked smile on her face, when a familiar voice interrupted her concentration,  
  
"I was just coming to find you! Mum says you've got to meet Vernon, I honestly don't see the point though, you'll only- Hey! Why are you smiling like that!? What've you done now!?" said Lily's sister looking panic-stricken, "It better not be- don't you- don't you dare try any of that- that stuff in front of Vernon!"  
  
"As if I would do that to you, Petunia," said Lily sweetly, "Don't you worry about me, I'll be as good as gold for your little Verny!"  
  
For a moment it looked like Petunia was going to slap Lily, but instead she just shot her a nasty look before dragging her sister through the hall into their spotless, cream-coloured living room.  
  
Petunia Evans could not have been more different from Lily if she had tried. If anybody saw them together (Not that they ever would as Lily's favourite place to be was at least two miles from her sister) they would not have guessed that the two were related. Petunia was thin as a rake with blonde hair and an abnormally long neck, in fact, Lily often said she looked like a starved giraffe. Lily on the other hand was slim, not too skinny and not too fat, with lovely thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders in loose waves. However, her most distinguishing feature, were her eyes. They were an amazing, emerald green colour, and because Lily happened to have such dark eyelashes they stood out even more. She would never admit it, but if any of the boys at school were to describe her in a word, it would be: Wow  
  
But the differences didn't stop there, Lily and Petunia had completely opposite personalities too. Lily Evans tended to keep things to herself, and she never liked to invade other peoples privacy, but Petunia? Well...she could gossip for England, and she was just so nosy! However, the biggest difference between the two was the fact, that  
  
Lily was a witch, and Petunia wasn't. This was also the reason for which Petunia loathed her sister so much. She wasn't jealous, good heavens no! She just despised her for being different. Petunia considered Lily a freak, and a weirdo. Her worst nightmare was that somebody would discover that she, Petunia, was related to someone like  
  
that.  
  
As they entered the living room Lily saw her mother and father sitting on the large leather sofa by the window, both were smiling at a young man who was seated in the armchair opposite the television. Lily supposed he must be Vernon, and her first impression was of a very large bull. He was, well the only way to describe it was beefy.  
  
His face was round and glistening with sweat, and he seemed to have virtually no neck at all. His thick blonde hair was plastered over his forehead, and two watery blue eyes were peering intently at Lily. Vernon stood up and cleared his throat impressively, thrusting a hand out to Lily, who shook it whilst barely containing her laughter.  
  
"Vernon Dursley, lovely to meet you...Lily I presume?" he said, still shaking Lily's hand vigorously, "Yes...such a lovely name."  
  
There was something about he way Vernon spoke that made Lily want to cry with laughter. He seemed to be attempting some kind of posh, snooty accent, but he was failing miserably. To her, he just sounded like an idiot, but she managed to control herself long enough to say,   
  
"I'm so glad I get to meet the famous Vernon at last,"  
  
For a moment Vernon looked confused, "Famous?" he said, then a look of realisation appeared on his fat face, "Of course! You've heard of Grunnings! I thought you might have. Which drill did you purchase? Was it the new PowerMax500? I must say that's a favourite of mine. Or was it the HandymanXL? Both have a superb performance don't you think? Did Petunia tell you, I've been promoted, got my own office now, ninth floor," he said importantly.  
  
Lily couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. Grunnings, drills, new offices??!! What on Earth was he talking about!! She was laughing so hard she could feel tears forming in her eyes and she quickly ducked out of the room, back into the hall, were she leaned against the wall taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She didn't have to see Petunia's face to know that she was going to kill her.  
  
Five minutes later when Lily had recovered from her outburst, she entered the living room again and was greeted by two worried looks from her mother and father, a bewildered frown from Vernon and a furious glare from Petunia.  
  
"Sorry," Lily muttered, "I...er...remembered a joke I heard yesterday about...er...some golfers,"  
  
Vernon looked mildly interested, "Really? Go on then, let's hear it,"  
  
Panicking slightly, Lily turned to her mother, "Not enough time, it's quite a long joke. Mum? Would it be okay if I just pop out to do a bit of shopping? It's just that there's a few things I need to get for tomorrow-"  
  
"Of course dear, just try to be back for tea won't you? I'm serving up at six," said Mrs Evans pleasantly.  
  
"Thanks mum!" grinned Lily and hastily left the room.  
  
After visiting her room to grab her bag and purse, Lily tiptoed past the living room and into the dining room. Closing the wooden door behind her, she crossed the room to the large fireplace. Checking that she couldn't be heard next door, Lily took a pinch of glittering powder from a little china bowl on the mantelpiece and threw it into the fireplace. Suddenly tall , emerald green flames rose up with a low roar, and Lily, taking a deep breath, stepped into the warm flames and said clearly, "Diagon Alley!"  
  
Lily squeezed her eyes shut as she began to spin very fast...the sound of the flames was rushing through her head...twice she grazed her elbow as she whooshed past fireplaces, still spinning...she thought she was going to be sick...and then- she toppled forwards, out of the fire and found herself in the busy streets of Diagon Alley.  
  
Lily stood up and brushed the soot from her clothes and hair, then she hoisted her bag over her shoulder and set off down the shop-lined street. After checking her list once more, she decided to start by buying her new school books and began to walk in the direction of Flourish and Blotts. Just as she was about to enter the bookshop she heard a shout from behind her,  
  
"Lily! Wait up!"  
  
Lily turned in the doorway and saw a girl running towards her, dark hair flying.  
  
"Hi Madison!" Lily grinned.  
  
The girl had joined Lily in the doorway and was now trying to tidy her hair, "Hi!" she said.  
  
Suddenly an irritated voice came from inside Flourish and Blotts, "Either come inside or get out of the doorway! You're blocking it!" the shop assistant appeared carrying several large, heavy books and peered at them grumpily from behind his square-shaped spectacles.  
  
Madison giggled and pulled Lily inside the brightly lit shop, towards the shelves at the back of the room. "So, how was your summer?" she asked as she began to search through the books.  
  
Lily frowned, "It was alright I guess, but Petunia-" she rolled her eyes. "She only went and got herself a boyfriend. I wouldn't have minded, but she won't shut up about him!"  
  
Madison smiled sympathetically, "Is she really that awful?"  
  
Lily nodded, "And today, lucky girl that I am, I got to actually meet wonder boy!" she said laughing, "And if I was her, I wouldn't be bragging about him! There it is-"  
  
Lily picked up two copies of Defend Yourself Against the Dark Arts, and handed one to Madison.  
  
2Thanks, here's the Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five,"  
  
Together the girls carried their books over to the counter and handed their money to the shop assistant. They chatted whilst he counted out the change.  
  
"Where shall we go next then?" Madison asked.  
  
"Madam Malkin's!"  
  
Madison gasped excitedly, "Oh yeah! Dress robes! Why'd you think we need them?"  
  
Lily picked up her books and put them inside her bag. Then she and Madison left the shop, exchanging ideas about the dress robes.   
  
They soon reached Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and headed inside, where they were greeted by a plump, smiling witch dressed in robes of sunshine yellow.  
  
"Good afternoon! What do you need my dears?"  
  
"Em...Dress robes please-"  
  
"Ah yes! You're not the first I've had here today looking for dress robes, is there a party going on?" asked Madam Malkin inquisitively.  
  
"Well, we're not really sure-"  
  
"Never mind then, so do you have any particular colours in mind?"  
  
Lily and Madison both shook their heads.  
  
"Can we just see the whole selection?"  
  
Madam Malkin beamed and led them over to where several clothes racks stood, all of them holding many sets of robes, all different styles and colours.  
  
"Wow!" breathed Madison, "We've got a lot to choose from, don't we!"  
  
Lily nodded and headed for the nearest rack.  
  
Twenty minutes later Lily and Madison each carried ten different sets of robes over to the changing rooms.  
  
Lily pushed her hair away from her face and sighed, "I can't believe we're going to try all these on! It could take forever!"  
  
"Come on Lily! Trying millions of clothes on is what being a girl is about!!" Madison grinned wickedly, "I'll race you! Last one to put on their robes has to buy the winner an ice-cream!"  
  
"Well, when you put it that way..."  
  
Both girls rushed into a changing room and yanked the curtain across, giggling madly.   
  
Within a few minutes, Madison stepped out from behind her curtain. She was wearing robes of sky blue, trimmed with silver edging, and she looked very pretty indeed.  
  
"Yesssssssss! I win! I win!" she yelled triumphantly and punched her fist into the air.  
  
"Fine! I'll get your ice-cream once we're finished here! I'm coming out now!" called Lily from her changing room, and stepped out in long, midnight blue robes.  
  
Lily gasped when she saw Madison, "Oh wow! You look totally gorgeous!"  
  
"So do you!"  
  
Lily frowned, "I don't think the colour suits me much."  
  
"Okay, but I really want to see you in the red one!," Madison said and pushed Lily back into the changing room.  
  
After they had tried on what seemed like fifty different dress robes, the girls made a decision and took their purchases to the counter where Madam Malkin was waiting with a smile.  
  
"Excellent choices, you'll be the best dressed girls at that party of yours!" she said as they handed over their money.   
  
Once the two friends had left the robe shop and stepped back into the long cobbled street of Diagon Alley, Madison turned to Lily and said eagerly, "Time for that ice-cream!"  
  
Lily rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be dragged in the direction of Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour.  
  
As they went, she gazed absent-mindedly at all the busy shops and cafés. She still found them fascinating, even though she had seen them at least a dozen times before.  
  
Just as they were passing Quality Quidditch Supplies, Madison suddenly stopped dead, causing Lily to walk straight into her.  
  
"OW!" Lily yelped, "Why have we stopped? What's wrong?"  
  
But Madison wasn't listening, she was staring at Quality Quidditch Supplies with a dreamy expression on her face.  
  
"Come on Madison! Surely you don't like Quidditch that much-"  
  
"Look Lily," she whispered excitedly, "Look! It's him!"  
  
Lily followed her gaze and looked to see who the mystery him was. She immediately wished she hadn't.  
  
"You can't be serious, Maddi!" she said in a disgusted voice, "Not that idiot!"  
  
Madison just gave her a small smile and sighed.  
  
Feeling sure that she hadn't seen who she thought it was (Madison wouldn't like someone like that, surely?), Lily looked over to the shop again. Unfortunately, Lily's eyes weren't playing tricks on her. There, standing by the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, were Sirius Black and James Potter.  
  
They were gazing at the fancy-looking broomstick that was displayed behind the glass, a little card was propped against it and Lily could just make out the words: 'Nimbus One Thousand Five Hundred'.  
  
Lily snorted and muttered under her breath, "Trust them to stare at a worthless piece of wood! Idiots! They're probably struggling to even read that card!"  
  
Suddenly Madison grabbed her arm tightly.  
  
"OW!" cried Lily for the second time.  
  
"Lily! They're coming over! Do I look okay?" Madison whispered nervously, fiddling with her long brown hair.  
  
To her horror, Lily saw that she was right, James and Sirius were indeed heading straight for them. Quickly she tried to pull Madison away, but it was too late-  
  
"Hey, Evans! Grey! Fancy seeing you here!"  
  
"Hi Sirius," Madison breathed.  
  
Lily winced, Madison was practically drooling.  
  
Luckily Sirius didn't seem to notice, he just grinned.  
  
Had Lily not known how arrogant he was, she might have blushed. It was quite cute the way his dark hair fell into his eyes so casually...Then again, he'd probably styled it like that deliberately, the vain moron.  
  
Lily heard somebody clear their throat, and saw that James was watching her intently.  
  
"What?" she snapped irritably.  
  
"Well, I was- we were wondering if you wanted to...er...come for a- a walk with us?" he said whilst rumpling his  
  
already messy black hair.  
  
"Sorry," Lily replied, not sounding sorry at all, "We were just on our way home."  
  
James looked confused. "But- don't you live that way?" he said and pointed in the direction from which the girls had come.  
  
Suddenly Madison seemed to recover herself, "No, we're not going home, we were on our way to get ice-cream!"  
  
The boys grinned, "Perfect! We can go together!"  
  
At this Sirius, James and Madison began to walk down the street.  
  
"Come on Lily!" shouted Madison.  
  
With gritted teeth, Lily was forced to follow them.  
  
When they reached Florean Fortescue's the boys chose a table and told the girls to sit. After asking what flavour they wanted, the boys went to order the ice-creams.  
  
"Don't worry, we're paying!" Sirius grinned, misunderstanding Lily's frown.  
  
The second he was out of earshot, Lily turned on Madison.  
  
"How could you do this to me!" she hissed, "You of all people should know how much I hate them!"  
  
Madison's dreamy smile fell, "I thought- I thought they were nice. Why can't we be friends with them?"  
  
Lily looked exasperated, "Because boys who are conceited, show-offs and like to bully anyone who gets in their way, do not make good friends!!"  
  
Madison's cheeks turned pink, "That might be what you think, Lily Evans, but I happen to like Sirius..." she was  
  
definitely blushing now, "And James too," she added as an after-thought.  
  
"Fine! Think what you want. But I hope you know the only reason I'm still sitting here is because of you!"  
  
The next hour was unbearable for Lily. As she had expected, within five minutes the boys had turned the conversation on themselves.  
  
"I was thinking of buying the new Nimbus if I'm made Gryffindor Quidditch captain," and "I bet I'll get loads of OWLs next year, school work is so easy!" were not things she was particularly interested in hearing, so she ignored them and concentrated on finishing her vanilla and chocolate ice-cream sundae.  
  
Eventually, Lily checked her watch. It was half past five. Feeling relief wash through her, she stood up and was about to excuse herself when she heard James laugh, "No more tricks for us," he said sarcastically, We'll have to watch ourselves now that old Moony is prefect!"  
  
Suddenly Lily was listening.  
  
"Remus Lupin is a prefect?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, and by the way that's practically the first time you've spoken all afternoon!" James said with a grin.  
  
Like I could've got a word in edgeways even if I'd wanted too, Lily thought.  
  
"Okay, well I'm off now. I promised I'd be home for six. See you on the train, Maddi!"  
  
James looked disappointed, "You're leaving already?"  
  
Lily had to stop herself from glaring at him, "Yes, I'm leaving. Good bye!"  
  
With that she pushed her chair back, picked up her shopping bags and left without another word.  
  
That night, as Lily sat on her bed in her spotty blue pyjamas packing a few final things into her trunk, she thought about how horribly wrong the afternoon had gone. She still couldn't believe they had the nerve to just walk over as if they'd been best mates for years! After all, they knew as well as Lily did that she didn't like James or any of his  
  
friends. Well, except maybe Remus...He wasn't so bad.  
  
After tossing a last pair of socks into the trunk, Lily slammed the lid shut and locked it. Then she heaved it downstairs and into the hall where she pushed it into a corner. Putting her hands on her hips with a satisfied smile, Lily returned to her bedroom. She switched off the light and drew the curtains across so that the room was flooded with darkness, then she jumped into her warm bed, pulling the covers right up to her chin and fell asleep almost at once. 


End file.
